The Epic Games Store Is Still Bringing No Profits, Boss Admits

The Epic Games Store has not been a profitable incentive for the company. EGS boss Steve Allison revealed that the store is still not making any money after all these years since its inception. It initially launched in 2018 and quickly gained traction for its alluring features. As reported by The Verge, the info came out during the Epic vs. Google court trials.

Despite a lack of profits, Epic Games is concentrating on growth currently and deepening its roots in the PC gaming industry. Its eventual goal is to hold dominion over half of the entire PC gaming market. It has been spending millions to bring free games to the store every week. The conglomerate has also toiled hard in funding projects like Fortnite and other exclusives, including the newly released Alan Wake 2, to retain a big audience.

The other gamer-friendly initiatives have also only exhausted the company’s budget. As a result, the popular PC games store has grown but failed to improve its monetary gains over the years. The latest antitrust hearings have concluded that the popular PC games storefront has failed to yield profits because of the extensive spending and major ambitions. 

While the Epic Games Store and Steam appear to have similar objectives, both giants have different systems in place to ensure financial gains. Epic Games generally pays more to devs and games compared to Steam. Valve asks for a 30% revenue split from game sales sold on its Steam store. Epic Games, on the other hand, is more lenient and takes only 12%.

It is also often pursuing exclusive deals and purchasing games to remain on its platform, like Fall Guys. The favorable revenue split makes Epic Games Store a robust choice for devs, but keeping all the initiatives up and running exhausts just that many amounts of resources. However, Epic Games Store will eventually start making money, as mentioned by the CEO.

Epic Games has predicted the first year of profitability for its PC store many times in the past. During the Apple vs. Epic case, Tim Sweeney said the store would start making money in 2023. A report from the same trial also pointed toward 2027, while another mentions next year as the breaking point for its PC store. The CEO also claimed that spending over $300 million on the store —as of 2021— was a good decision to grow the business.

Amidst the chaotic competition, Epic Games was recently hit by the brunt end of layoffs and increased V-bucks prices. It could cause the store to stagnate further for the next few years.